The Last Minute Hitch: 5 December 2025
5 December 2025
– Steve Hitchen
Senators Collins and McDonald took CASA to task over V1-cut training in senate estimates this week. For those unfamiliar, this is a simulated engine-out on take-off in a twin, but the instructor actually pulls the power on one engine to see how you cope with the asymmetrics. But its not really a simulation; the asymmetry is real and so is the aircraft's abominable handling. Collins stated in the senate that more pilots have died doing V1-cut training than in the scenario they are training for. These senators have put me in the somewhat vacillating position of agreeing with everything everyone said. Yes, pilots and instructors put their lives on the line doing it; virtually no-one disagrees with that. It would be better done in simulators, again, total agreeance. However, the entire aviation community needs to work towards a solution, and I am not sure a sudden end to the practice as Senator McDonald has demanded is constructive. If people died because a pilot's skills were too rusty to cope with the startle and urgency involved in a genuine V1-cut, I am sure Senator McDonald would soon be sharpening the knives for CASA demanding the very thing she renounces right now. There could be some merit in reducing the amount of checking and training required or running the simulation not below 3000 feet AGL or some other mitigator. However, I'm sticking to my guns over the solution I first espoused in 2010: we need simulators that have high enough fidelity to transfer skills to the cockpit for twins of all sizes, not just the big ones. That means both the industry and the government investing eye-crossing dollars. Perhaps the senators would like to champion that into the next Federal Budget.
"..the disdain shown towards the needs of GA in that situation is to be repeated.."
Melbourne International's much-hyped third runway–34L/16R–is due to start construction next year, which will bring parallel runway ops to Melbourne for the first time. Although those ops are five years away, a proposal to modify control steps north of the city has been lodged with the Aviation Safety Engagement Forum (AvSEF). The document says the steps need to be lowered to allow ICAO separation standards for parallel ops. And as has happened with Western Sydney International, general aviation stands to be the great loser despite promises to consult and listen. The 3500 step is in danger of being lowered to 2500, which will invade the space used for circuits at the Macedon region airports like Romsey, Riddells Creek and Penfield. Romsey in particular has a circuit height of 2500 AMSL, which allows no margin to cater for student pilots flying solo-standard altitude tolerances. Stalls? Not a chance. We've been through all this before with the insidious situation imposed upon Bankstown, and apparently the disdain shown towards the needs of GA in that situation is to be repeated in the case of Melbourne's third runway. At the moment, this is not a change proposal from Airservices, but rather a flagpole exercise from consultant Trax Asia Pacific. That means the GA community has plenty of spleen-venting time before consultation gets serious, but only if we go to the mattresses now. This is relatively minor compared to Bankstown's predicament, but we need to make sure those lessons are learnt.
If not Paul Bennet, then who? Australia's most prolific air show pilot has stepped up to take over the endangered Illawarra air show, which has acquired its third different organiser in four years, resulting in the show going on under three names. In 2022, Bright Events organised the show under the Wings over Illawarra banner, in 2024 it flew under the AMDA Foundation brand Airshows Downunder Shellharbour, and under Paul Bennet will be named Wings over Shellharbour (WOS) for 2026. When AMDA Foundation surrendered the show after only one event, they promised to find a new organiser, and if you look around, Paul Bennet was probably the only option for the show's survival. Those who have been there will describe the heartache behind staging an air show; the hours, the problems, the personal cost, the regulations, the people-juggling, the financial constraints. And then it rains and you have to call it all off. If you're a commercial operation, staging an air show is not the way to make money, meaning organisers with this magnitude of experience are rare. But this air show is the largest in the Sydney basin and is worth fighting for, so kudos to Paul Bennet for stepping up and keeping WOS on the calendar. The date has been pushed out from March to May 2026, which puts it back on the original schedule that it had for years as Wings over Illawarra and gives the organisers a bit more breathing space before showtime.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch
5 December 2025
– Steve Hitchen
Senators Collins and McDonald took CASA to task over V1-cut training in senate estimates this week. For those unfamiliar, this is a simulated engine-out on take-off in a twin, but the instructor actually pulls the power on one engine to see how you cope with the asymmetrics. But its not really a simulation; the asymmetry is real and so is the aircraft's abominable handling. Collins stated in the senate that more pilots have died doing V1-cut training than in the scenario they are training for. These senators have put me in the somewhat vacillating position of agreeing with everything everyone said. Yes, pilots and instructors put their lives on the line doing it; virtually no-one disagrees with that. It would be better done in simulators, again, total agreeance. However, the entire aviation community needs to work towards a solution, and I am not sure a sudden end to the practice as Senator McDonald has demanded is constructive. If people died because a pilot's skills were too rusty to cope with the startle and urgency involved in a genuine V1-cut, I am sure Senator McDonald would soon be sharpening the knives for CASA demanding the very thing she renounces right now. There could be some merit in reducing the amount of checking and training required or running the simulation not below 3000 feet AGL or some other mitigator. However, I'm sticking to my guns over the solution I first espoused in 2010: we need simulators that have high enough fidelity to transfer skills to the cockpit for twins of all sizes, not just the big ones. That means both the industry and the government investing eye-crossing dollars. Perhaps the senators would like to champion that into the next Federal Budget.
"..the disdain shown towards the needs of GA in that situation is to be repeated.."
Melbourne International's much-hyped third runway–34L/16R–is due to start construction next year, which will bring parallel runway ops to Melbourne for the first time. Although those ops are five years away, a proposal to modify control steps north of the city has been lodged with the Aviation Safety Engagement Forum (AvSEF). The document says the steps need to be lowered to allow ICAO separation standards for parallel ops. And as has happened with Western Sydney International, general aviation stands to be the great loser despite promises to consult and listen. The 3500 step is in danger of being lowered to 2500, which will invade the space used for circuits at the Macedon region airports like Romsey, Riddells Creek and Penfield. Romsey in particular has a circuit height of 2500 AMSL, which allows no margin to cater for student pilots flying solo-standard altitude tolerances. Stalls? Not a chance. We've been through all this before with the insidious situation imposed upon Bankstown, and apparently the disdain shown towards the needs of GA in that situation is to be repeated in the case of Melbourne's third runway. At the moment, this is not a change proposal from Airservices, but rather a flagpole exercise from consultant Trax Asia Pacific. That means the GA community has plenty of spleen-venting time before consultation gets serious, but only if we go to the mattresses now. This is relatively minor compared to Bankstown's predicament, but we need to make sure those lessons are learnt.
If not Paul Bennet, then who? Australia's most prolific air show pilot has stepped up to take over the endangered Illawarra air show, which has acquired its third different organiser in four years, resulting in the show going on under three names. In 2022, Bright Events organised the show under the Wings over Illawarra banner, in 2024 it flew under the AMDA Foundation brand Airshows Downunder Shellharbour, and under Paul Bennet will be named Wings over Shellharbour (WOS) for 2026. When AMDA Foundation surrendered the show after only one event, they promised to find a new organiser, and if you look around, Paul Bennet was probably the only option for the show's survival. Those who have been there will describe the heartache behind staging an air show; the hours, the problems, the personal cost, the regulations, the people-juggling, the financial constraints. And then it rains and you have to call it all off. If you're a commercial operation, staging an air show is not the way to make money, meaning organisers with this magnitude of experience are rare. But this air show is the largest in the Sydney basin and is worth fighting for, so kudos to Paul Bennet for stepping up and keeping WOS on the calendar. The date has been pushed out from March to May 2026, which puts it back on the original schedule that it had for years as Wings over Illawarra and gives the organisers a bit more breathing space before showtime.
May your gauges always be in the green,
Hitch